In this story by Elizabeth McCracken, a homeless woman with no family has spent her life traveling the countryside and staying at the homes of people she says are distant relatives. Now in her eighties, she visits a young couple claiming to be the niece of the man’s great-grandfather. While there, she forms an unlikely attachment to a neglected, undisciplined young boy living nearby. When the truth comes out and it is time for her to leave, she considers taking the boy with her. Themes include homelessness, deception, family, loss, connection. More…
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The Totara Tree
This light-hearted story from Roderick Finlayson is set in 1930’s New Zealand. A small Maori community is in conflict with the Pakeha (white European) authorities who plan to cut down a sacred tree to build new power lines. An old woman climbs the tree and refuses to come down. After an initial confrontation, the authorities depart for the night. This leads to a drunken celebration, which causes a house-fire that threatens the tree. When rescuers discover that the old woman in the tree has died, one of them comes up with a foolproof plan to save the tree. More…
LAFFF
The Asian-American protagonist in this story by Lensey Namioka desperately wants to impress her parents by winning the Best Story Award for her grade in her school’s annual writing competition. Meanwhile, a nerdy classmate and neighbor has developed a time machine in his garage. She is the only one who knows about it and, when she can’t come up with a story she is happy with, she decides to travel forward in time to copy the winning entry. Her major concern is coming face-to-face with herself! Themes include pressure to succeed, friendship, time travel, cheating. More…
A Day’s Wait
The message of this story from Ernest Hemingway is the importance of two-way parent-child communication. A doctor attributes a boy’s high temperature to influenza and prescribes medicine. Over the course of the day, the boy remains “detached” and begins to act strangely. He is sure the doctor and his father are hiding something more serious from him. Had the father taken the time to make sure his son fully understood what the doctor said, or the son raised his concerns immediately, both would have been spared a lot of anxiety. Themes: father-son relationships, innocence, misunderstanding, fear, masculinity, stoicism. More…
A Night in the Hills
This story from Paz Marquez Benitez deals with something many people caught up in a routine job or coming to a crossroads in life go through: dreaming of escape to an alternative, seemingly more appealing lifestyle. City-based Gerardo has always dreamed of living in the countryside. Recently widowed, he accompanies a friend to inspect some newly opened public land. After a single night in the jungle, he decides that life “in the hills” is not as appealing as he had imagined. Themes: imagination (the grass is always greener), city vs. country life, discontent, enlightenment, acceptance. More…